This morning I saw a picture of a sign; nearly every word was followed by “’s”.  Bad, bad, bad!  Just because something is plural it doesn’t mean it needs an apostrophe unless it’s possessive – and even then, it doesn’t always qualify for an extra “s”.

For example:

Good Eat’s!

Sport’s Nut’s!

We Repair Car’s While You Wait!

Okay, you get the idea, right?  “Eat’s” doesn’t own anything, and neither do “nut’s” or “car’s” or “sport’s”.  Now, if the signs said:

“Johnny Eat’s Restaurant”, that would mean that a guy named Johnny Eat owns a restaurant.  Which would be weird, yes.  Or, if you said:

“Sports Nut’s Bar and Grill”, that would mean that the bar and grill is owned by a sports nut – if, of course, it was several sports nuts, you’d have to place the apostrophe after the “s”, not before it. 

There’s just no good example to fix that last one.  Cars are repaired, period.

Here’s another reason not to use an apostrophe: when naming decades.  I see this one a lot.  “1960’s”, “70’s”, and so forth.  The only time to use an apostrophe with these types of “words” is to show ownership, such as “The 1980s’ styles included big hair, feathered bangs, and powder blue eyeshadow.”  If you are referring simply to a decade, skip the apostrophe and say “1990s”.

And one more common faux pas regarding an unneeded apostrophe: “do’s and don’ts”.  Now, it seems correct because, after all, the word “don’t” gets to have an apostrophe, right?  And saying “dos” just looks funny…or Spanish.  But no, no, no!  The correct phrase is “dos and don’ts”. 

Now, where to put that pesky apostrophe on a word that already has an “s” on the end?  Of course, when you’re showing it to be possessive that is!  For most words you can simply tack the apostrophe on the end; for a few of them, you have to add an “s”.  Here are some examples:

“Johnny Eats’ Restaurant” – in this case, Johnny’s last name is Eats, not Eat.  And of course, if there were no apostrophe at all we’d be saying that Johnny ate a restaurant, right?

“Zebras’ stripes” – this refers to the stripes of several zebras, or at least more than one zebra; if referring to one zebra, the apostrophe would go before the “s”.

Apostrophes can trip up writers quite a bit, but if you take time to brush up on the “rules” and remember your possessives, you can clean up your work in no time at all.

Common misuse of these words is well, common.  Sometimes it’s amazing that our educational system is so awful that even those who finished high school can’t distinguish between “your” and “you’re”.  Remember my “tip” from the other day?

“…always, always in your writing use proper English and spelling and grammar.  To do otherwise makes you seem uneducated or ignorant and why, if you can’t write properly, would anyone take your information seriously?”

Now, on to the lesson:

“Your” is possessive: your blog, your computer, your article.  “Your” means that something belongs to you.  Simple.

“You’re” is another one of those pesky contractions, like “they’re”.  “You’re” means “you are”, as in “you are going to the bank” or, in its contraction form, “you’re going to the bank.”

Now, when it comes to possessive usage, most people know to add “apostrophe s” say, for example, to someone’s name: Susie’s book.  Or, for that matter, “someone’s name”.  But “it” is a bit different.

When referring to an inanimate object as “it”, and using “it” as a possessive, as in “the bank changed its interest rate”, do not use that apostrophe!  If you do, it changes the meaning of “its” to “it’s”, which is a contraction of “it is”.  So, you wouldn’t say “the bank changed it is interest rate” because that makes no sense at all.  So skip the apostrophe in anything for which you can substitute “it is”.

Again, “it’s”, with the apostrophe, is a contraction for “it is”.

While we’re on the subject of word usage, here’s another common error: “loose” and “lose”.  I run across this constantly, while editing, in student posts, on Facebook.  “Loose” means “to loosen” as in “I ate so much dinner I had to loosen my belt.”  “Lose” means to misplace something, or get rid of something, or even “not win”.  Such as, “I have to lose this weight, or my belt will never buckle again.”  You can never, ever “loose weight” or “loose your contact lense”.

Be sure to tune in Friday for more word usage or, rather, misusage!